6 Answers
6

Prime lenses are better suited to specific environments - a 50mm f/1.8 is great for food photography, a 100mm macro is quite flattering for portraiture, but neither work well as a general purpose "carry-round" lens. I use Canon's 28-135 IS lens as a carry round, and can't sing its praises higher, even performing well doing some music photography the other week.

100mm lenses may not be a walking-around lens, but 50mm certainly is, 28mm and 35mm as well. All of those are used with regularity in street photography.
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ex-msJul 29 '10 at 7:46

@matt a prime is not versatile for use as a walk-around lens, you cannot easily flip between a wide angle landscape, or an abstract detail by the side of the way. - i.e. the point I was trying to get across is that primes are not general purpose.
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Rowland Shaw♦Jul 29 '10 at 11:36

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what I'm trying to say is that's a very subjective aspect of the question, and I think you dismiss too quickly. Primes are still a good choice for a lot of people as everyday lenses. Also, the "not versatile" aspect could apply equally to many fairly common zooms; an 80-200 or 14-24 can't switch from wide to narrow either – I think the distinction you're making isn't properly zoom vs. prime, but "wide-to-mild-telephoto zoom" vs. everything else.
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ex-msJul 29 '10 at 18:13

Another point — a normal prime with a fast aperture is arguably more versatile than a slower zoom, especially if you don't have total control over the light.
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mattdmMar 20 '11 at 16:10

Whether to use primes or zooms is largely a matter of personal preference. That said, zooms are usually considered to be more versatile and better suited for fast-moving environments--i.e., photojournalism, sports, etc--since you can probably achieve your desired framing more quickly by zooming than by running or changing lenses. When speed is not an issue--say, when making art--primes are great, usually having advantages in size, maximum aperture, and price/performance ratio. Fast primes are a huge asset in low-light situations where flash is not allowed (e.g., performing arts), and/or when small depth-of-field is desirable (e.g., portraiture).

As for macro lenses, well, most true macro lenses are primes. Macro lenses are best for macro (i.e., close-up) photography, but there are macro lenses that also happen to be great walk-around lenses, such as the highly-regarded Pentax DA 35 f2.8.

Actually I should clarify this: "Macro" really refers to the relationship between the size of the object and the size of the object's image on the sensor; they should be about the same. In practical terms though it's used to refer to the ability for close-up focusting.
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Craig WalkerAug 4 '10 at 22:54